Jerusalem Post 09/02/2012

Rev. Mitri Raheb honored by former German president despite ‘racist statements’.BERLIN – Israeli Embassy representatives expressed dismay with the decision of a
German media NGO and former German president Roman Herzog to honor the
Bethlehem- based Rev. Mitri Raheb, because of what they term his efforts to
delegitimize the Jewish state’s existence.

Israeli diplomatic sources in
Berlin told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that “Raheb is connected to a
document – ‘Cairo Palestine’ – that defines Israel as an Apartheid state and
calls for a boycott of Israel. It is an extremist and racist document which does
not contribute to reconciliation and peace between the Palestinians and
Israelis. We regret that one of its authors is receiving acknowledgment in
Germany.”

Last week, the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor and the Simon
Wiesenthal Center sharply criticized The Media Control, the German NGO
responsible for the award, and Herzog’s decision to deliver a keynote speech in
Raheb’s honor in late February.

According to the Wiesenthal Center, “in
speeches given to various religious symposia and church summits (including the
infamous 2004 US Presbyterian assembly that approved a boycott and divestment
campaign against Israel), Raheb promoted a ‘Palestinian theology’ that purports
that Jews are not the Chosen People and therefore have no right to the Holy
Land.”

German-Israeli friendship groups urged Herzog, who served as
president of Germany from 1994-1999, to reconsider his participation at the
event honoring Raheb. In an early February letter from the German-Israeli
friendship society (or DIG) in Freiburg, its representative Andrea Lauser noted
that Herzog’s life motto was “Truth and Clarity,” and expressed hope “that you
follow this motto in connection with Dr. Raheb.”

DIG Freiburg said
that Raheb had made “racist statements about Israel and Jews” and that his
anti-Israel comments contradicted the message of the German media prize for
“Alternatives to Violence and Radicalization.” As such, the letter stated, it
made no sense that Raheb had been chosen for the award.

The letter also
cited Herzog’s speech at the Bergen- Belsen extermination camp in Poland in
1995, in which he said the “history of failure began not after the [Nazis’]
seizure of power in 1933,” but long before. He also said in that speech that the
“danger of totalitarianism is always present – and not only in Germany, but in
the entire world” – a statement that DIG said showed Raheb’s views represented a
fascist outlook.

The Rhein-Neckar/Mannheim DIG appears to be the first
group to have called for Herzog to pull the plug on his participation because of
Raheb’s stance on Israel. In a late January letter to the former president, the
group described Raheb as “a prominent Palestinian Christian who delegitimizes
the Jewish people and fights the existence of the State of Israel.”

Post
e-mails and telephone calls to Herzog were not immediately
returned.

Herzog has so far refused to issue responses to the growing
German and international criticism of his decision to honor Raheb.

The
Media Control group, which awarded the prize to Raheb because his “acts are a
symbol of humanity,” defended the award in an e-mail to the Post.

“The
German Media prize [has worked] 20 years for neutrality, balance and
peace. And that is why [former prime minister] Yitzhak Rabin and
[President] Shimon Peres were honored,” wrote Karlheinz Kögel, the founder of
the Medien prize. He added that he has “generously supported the Peres Center
for Peace.”

“In this year, we will make sure that the [award ceremony]
event supports the coming peace process,” he continued. “The prize
ceremony will not be misused for one-sided statements.”